The purpose of spinal fixation is to strengthen and stabilize the spine to alleviate severe and chronic back pain. Spinal fixation is generally the anchoring of two or more vertebrae to each other employing instrumentation. This procedure may be performed open or employing a minimally invasive technique. Fixation is usually performed at a single vertebral level, although fusion at two levels may be performed. Fixation also often involves the use of supplemental hardware such as plates, screws, and cages.
Approximately 453,300 spinal fixation procedures are performed annually in the US. Currently, an increasing number of spinal surgical procedures are performed each year, especially lumbar spinal fusions. In particular, the growth in the number of lumbar spinal fusions in the population over age 60 is noted as “remarkable,” growing from 42/100,000 in 1993 to 108/100,000 in 2003.
One estimate posits that approximately 5 million adults in the United States are currently disabled to some degree from spine-related disorders, indicating a large potential group requiring interventions.